Empty the Bench

They both stepped up their respective games considerably this season, but in the end, it was a 21-year-old youngster who came to the NBA straight from high school that got the nod. In the closest vote ever, Golden State Warriors guard Monta Ellis narrowly drew more points than the Sacramento Kings’ Kevin Martin to take home the NBA’s Most Improved Player trophy. According to Yahoo! Sports, “Ellis received 352 points, including 47 first-place votes from a panel of writers and broadcasters. Martin picked up 349 points, including 44 first-place votes.”

If you’ve been paying attention, you already know how high we are on this kid. From our All-Youngin’ Team profile of Ellis: “Ellis has already drawn comparisons to a young Allen Iverson. There is some similarity between the two lighting-quick guards with an ability to score in the lane over larger defenders, but it’s not entirely accurate. Both can score at will, are incredibly fast with the ball and purloin at an extraordinary rate.

But Monta is already better from the field than AI (mostly due to his wise decision not to shoot 3-pointers) and he has the potential to be a much better distributor. That being said, we don’t see Ellis leading the NBA in scoring anytime soon. We do, however, see him in several All-Star games over the next decade and maybe leading the league in steals once or twice. Get on the bandwagon now, before all your friends catch on to this rare talent.”

And since this award is about marked improvement on the prior season, Ellis upped his per-game averages, compared to last year, by +16 minutes, +10 points, +2.5 assists, +6% FG, +5% FT, +1 rebound, and +1 steal. Not too shabby.

For his part, Martin also had a fantastic year in becoming the Kings’ second, sometimes first scoring option on any given night. He finished averaging 20 points, 4.3 boards, 2.2 assists, 47% FG, and 84% FT a game.